One year of Congress rule in Punjab a "total failure": Sukhbir

Questioning the intent of the Amarinder Singh led Congress government in Punjab on fulfilling pre-poll promises, including complete farm-debt waiver, the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal said the ruling dispensation was peddling the "empty coffers" claim even when it had received increased funds from the Centre.

SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, while speaking to reporters here, also termed the one year rule of the Congress government in the state as a "total failure". Amarinder Singh, along with his ministers, was sworn in on March 16 last year after the Congress stormed to power in the state polls.

"They (Congress government) are saying that they were left with empty exchequer when they took over. In last one year, the state government received additional sum of Rs 6,500 crore from the government of India. As against mobilization of Rs 20,000 crore, they got Rs 26,500 crore," Badal said.

Despite receiving more funds, they are crying about empty exchequer, he said.

Basically, they do not want to do anything and want to put the entire blame of their inefficiencies on Akali Dal, the former deputy chief minister said.

"What to talk of honouring poll promises, they have stopped ongoing schemes like pension, Shagun etc," he said.

The Congress had been claiming that the previous Akali Dal regime had left state coffers empty which has hindered their public welfare initiatives. The ruling party has claimed that when it took over, they were left with Rs 13,000 crore of unpaid liabilities.

With Congress celebrating its one year of being in power in Punjab, the opposition SAD lashed out at the Amarinder Singh led regime for "out sourcing the government to bureaucracy, leaving people at the mercy of bureaucrats".

Where is the government? Badal asked.

"Captain Sahib has out sourced the government to bureaucracy and it is the bureaucracy which is running the government. In democracy, political masters run the government and here it is the complete opposite. Politicians interact with public and they know their problems while bureaucracy cannot," he said.

This is the first time that the graph of any government has come down so sharply in one year, he claimed.

Asked whether solving of targeted killing cases including murder of right-wing and Hindu leaders and crackdown on gangsters was not an achievement of the Congress regime, Badal said there was no question of giving any credit to anyone.

"It is the duty of police," he said.

He claimed the accused of targeted killing cases were identified by a special investigation team formed by him during the previous SAD-BJP regime.

"We had identified the accused involved in targeted killing cases. But they fled to foreign countries. After one year when they returned, they were nabbed," he said.

Asked to respond on farm debt waiver, Badal said the government waived minuscule amount of loan as against the farm debt of Rs 90,000 crore while describing it as "a drama" and "a joke on farmers."